Northwestern vs St. Kate's 11-15-17

Made my way over to the St. Paul side of town last night to take in the season opener for both host St. Kate's and Northwestern out of the UMAC.  This would be first real look at the Wildcats now under new Head Coach Don Mulhern's tutelage and I was curious as to what tweaks and adjustments he would make to this team.  Hobbling in on crutches, I was greeted by Northwestern Head Coach Aaron Kahl and I got to speak to him for a bit about his team and his squad has already been hit by the injury bugaboo; most notably to sophomore guard Jazinae Patterson who injured her knee in practice recently.  I asked if Kahl would stray much from his patented 2-3 zone defense and was surprised when he told me that we could expect to see some man-to-man at times.  With that in mind, I was settled in at Butler Center ready for action.

Two scores by senior point guard Audra Clark - a drive into the lane and finish at the 9:51 mark and two free throws at the 8:02 mark  - had the Wildcats up 4-0 but Northwestern would knot the score at 4 a piece as sophomore guard Audrey Lefto connected with a jumper from the right wing at the 7:38 mark and junior guard Amy Berglund knocked down a jumper from the free throw line at the 7:06 mark.  Berglund would connect with a jumper from near the free throw line at the 6:15 mark that would get things tied up again at 6 a piece.  St. Kate's would push out in front again as flashy sophomore guard Danica Cambrice was able to connect on a tough drive and finish at the 5:59 mark; falling on her knees in the process and one free throw by senior guard Meg Clark at the 5:36 mark had the 'Cats up 9-6.  A lay-up in transition by Eagle junior reserve guard Morgan Retzlaff with 4:54 left had the St. Kate's lead down to one at 9-8 but then Audra Clark launched a three-point bomb from the top of the key with 4:34 left that made it a 12-8 game and two Audra Clark free throws with 4:03 left made it 14-8.  Retzlaff would try to get Northwestern closer again with another lay-up in transition with 3:58 left but one free throw by Wildcat sophomore reserve guard Sam Skwarek with 3:28 left had the lead back up to 15-10.  Then Cambrice struck again for St. Kate's as she got into the paint for a score with 2:29 left and was fouled in the process and the resulting "and one" had the 'Cats up 18-12.  A rare score in the paint by Audra Clark with 2:01 left and a Cambrice lay-up with 1:12 left capped a 7-0 push and now Northwestern found itself down by ten points at 22-12.  The Eagles would get back into single-digit range with :48.6 left in the opening period on two Berglund freebies but clearly Northwestern had its work cut out for it on this night.

The first two things I noticed about St. Kate's from the opening tip-off was that (1) they're small and (2) they really push the ball in an up-tempo style and they aren't afraid to bring out the full- and half-court pressure defense to try and create turnovers.  The latter was really causing problems for Kahl and his Eagle team and when sophomore reserve forward Jaelyn Miltz knocked down a jumper from near the free throw line at the 9:53 mark to up the Wildcat lead to ten points again at 24-14, you had to wonder if Northwestern had the firepower to respond.  Still, the Eagles were nowhere even close to breaking out the white flag just yet as sophomore forward Rio Landers drained a "3" from the right top area at the 8:38 mark and senior guard Andrea Zimpel drilled a "3" of her own from the left wing area at the 6:44 mark that cut the deficit down to six points at 26-20.  Reserve senior post Jessica Brown snared an offensive rebound for a putback at the 5:58 mark and another Zimpel trey - this one from the left corner at the 5:21 mark - had Northwestern back in the thick of things trailing by five at 30-25.  A short jumper by Retzlaff with 4:29 left and a Brown lay-up with 3:25 left now had the Eagles back to within a single possession trailing 32-29 and although Cambrice would temporarily increase the lead for St. Kate's with her pretty reverse lay-up with 2:03 left, a Landers  score in the paint with 1:31 left kept the Eagles close trailing 34-31.  A Cambrice lay-up with 1:14 left would give the Wildcats a bit more breathing space going into the locker room at the half but Northwestern did a nice job recovering from what could have been an early disaster.  But a quick check of the first half box score had to be a bit disconcerting to Kahl and his staff as his squad was outrebounded in the first half by a 23-13 count.  Moreover, the Eagles were guilty of ten turnovers in the first half and the 37.5% from behind the arc was going to have to get better as well. 

Presumably anyway, Northwestern had recovered enough and was close enough now to make more inroads in this game at the beginning of the third period but the Wildcats had vastly different ideas.  One Audra Clark free throw at the 9:37 mark had the lead up to six at 37-31 and then fellow senior sharp-shooting guard Alexis Garcia; who struggled a bit in the first half, finally found her stroke and promptly drained a "3" from the left top area after an untimely Eagle turnover at the 9:11 mark and then Cambrice, like a thief in the night, snagged a steal and dashed in for an easy lay-up the suddenly had the St. Kate's lead back up to double-digits at 42-31 and a startled Northwestern team was now reeling and Kahl quickly called timeout to try and save the boat from sinking.  Still, Audra Clark's short shot off the glass at the 7:58 mark had the lead up to 44-31 before the Eagles finally stopped some of the bleeding on a lay-up by junior guard Taryn Tumbleson at the 7:00 mark.  However, the menacing full- and half-court pressure that was being thrown at the Eagles by Mulhern and his squad was reaping huge rewards and Northwestern simply wasn't able to cope.  A short jumper by freshman reserve guard Brooke Torvik from the right side with 4:09 left and a score in the paint by Cambrice with 3:27 left had the 'Cats up 48-36 although Northwestern would attempt to make a run.  Two free throws by reserve junior post Alex Peterson with 3:07 left and a "3" from the right corner by Retzlaff with 1:54 left had the Eagles back in single digit range trailing 48-40 but any hopes of a real comeback were dashed permanently as a drive into the lane and finish by Audra Clark with :44 left and one Garcia freebie with :27 left had the lead back up to double-digits where it would stay at 51-40.  Audra Clark capped off this fabulous third period for the Wildcats with her drive into the lane and finish in transition with just one tick left on the clock as St. Kate's now had a 53-40 lead going into the fourth period.

The Wildcats slowly increased the lead as the fourth period got underway.  A lay-up in transition by Garcia at the 9:40 mark and two free throws by freshman reserve forward Morgan Kurth at the 8:12 mark had the lead up to 57-42 and a score in the paint by sophomore guard Jackie Radford at the 7:38 mark upped the lead to 59-42.  A short shot off the glass by Audra Clark at the 6:24 mark and a steal and lay-up the other way by Radford at the 5:56 mark capped an 8-0 run and left no doubt to the final outcome with St. Kate's now up 63-42.  Cambrice snared an offensive rebound and scored on a pretty turnaround jumper with 4:44 left and Radford connected with a lay-up with 4:21 left for a 67-44 Wildcat lead.  Northwestern was able to pad its total for the evening on two Landers free throws with 3:54 left and a Brown lay-up with 2:50 left but they could never muster a serious comeback bid.  Mulhern was able to gradually get more and more of his reserves in the game down the home stretch as freshman reserve forward Kaitlyn Struemke got into the paint for a score with 2:22 left and St. Kate's started out the regular season on a positive note with a convincing 69-51 victory.

I was able to catch up with Mulhern afterward to congratulate him on this season-opening win.  I asked him how hard it has been to instill a new system and a new philosophy of sorts to this Wildcat team and he admitted that it's been hard but, the good thing is that they've just tapped their potential when it comes to applying the pressure defense.  If that's the case, MIAC opponents had better beware of this St. Kate's team that has the ability to throw everything but the kitchen sink at you.  Mulhern had plenty of praise to throw around on this night but he had special praise for some of his younger players; particularly Radford who Mulhern claims is "especially high in basketball IQ".  Audra Clark had a fabulous opening night as she led all scorers with her 26 points and Cambrice recorded a "double-double" with her 21 points and 12 rebounds.  For Northwestern, Berglund was the only scorer in double figures with her 12 points.  No doubt Kahl and his staff had to wince at the final box score which showed his squad was outrebounded by a count of 43-27 on this night and shooting 37.8% from FG range and 26.7% behind the arc simply isn't going to get the job done although a lot of the credit for that has to go to St. Kate's and the pressure defense it was able to apply on this night.